House Church Talk - speaking, JL

[Bruce Woodford]

Hi Travis,

It is indeed good to hear from you! Hope you'll join in on a regular basis 
and participate in some of the ongoing discussions here!

Concerning your gatherings there in Springville, you wrote:"The saints here 
are not burdened with legalism.  Their are many obvious diversities among us 
that any and all visitors are able to percieve quickly. We walk in different 
understandings of: aspects of the Lord's Supper, head coverings, the 
doctrines of grace, etc, etc, etc.  The saints here love the Lord 
individually and corporately.  Most of the saints among us here are in one 
another's homes daily.  We are exhorting one another day to day as we walk 
together daily.  That is one of the reasons why a weekly gathering that the 
sisters remain silent in, is not a stifiling at all.  Because the sisters 
are constantly exercizing their gifts here, we are all mutually edified in 
our walks together around the Lord."

I am trying to get an accurate understanding of how you all view the church 
there in Springville. Would you mind seeking to answer some questions in 
that regard relative to I Cor14?

-I am assuming that the sisters have complete liberty to participate vocally 
in the daily gatherings, but simply remain silent during the weekly Sunday 
gathering (or part of it). Is that correct?

-You mentioned that among the ten families which gather there are a variety 
of understandings on such things as the Lord's Supper, headcoverings, the 
doctrines of grace etc.  I'm assuming that folks do not get upset with each 
other if some sisters wear head coverings and others do not. Am I correct?   
What if two families out of the ten understood the "whole church" context of 
I Cor 14 applied to community wide gatherings of the saints in Springville 
and thus those two wives felt they were at liberty to participate vocally in 
your Sunday house church gatherings?  What would happen?
Would they be permitted to function acording to their understanding of 
scripture?

-Do you consider the daily times of exhorting one another in each others' 
homes to be times of assembling yourselves together as in Hebrews 10:24,25?  
Do you consider these times together as "church" or "church gatherings"?

-We know that the early saints met daily to break bread and exhort one 
another (Acts 2:46 and Hebrews 3:13), but do you know of any scriptural 
evidence that they had a weekly gathering that was different in any respect 
to those daily gatherings?

-Are there times at your weekly events, when all ten families are together, 
when the sisters do converse and are not silent?

-Are there times, when all ten families are together and all but one family 
are away from their own homes, when the sisters would be free to ask their 
husbands questions?

-If an apostle (like Paul) were to write a letter (like I Corinthians) to 
the church of God at Springville, i.e. to all that were sanctified in Christ 
Jesus, and then addressed the subject of "the whole church gathering 
together in one place", how many saints do you think the writer would have 
in mind?

-Do  you think that the ten families in your house church would comprise 
"the whole church" that the writer had in mind?

-If  ten families (a subset of the totality of believers in Springville) 
gathered together on Sunday comprises "the whole church", would not 2 or 3 
families (also a subset of the totality of believers in Springville) 
gathered together on a Tuesday evening also comprise "the whole church"??

I guess, in short, I am asking ....how do you and the others with whom you 
gather determine what is a whole church gathering and what is not?  Is this 
determination the basis on which you determine when the sisters are to be 
silent?

I hope you can help me as I am having difficulty grasping how you relate I 
Cor 14:34 and 35 to the weekly gathering of ten families in Springville.

Your brother in Christ,
Bruce

_________________________________________________________________
Free yourself from those irritating pop-up ads with MSn Premium. Get 2months 
FREE*